Emmy nomineePaul Feighas had no shortage of work over the past few years, between hisJohn CenaandAwkwafinateam-upJackpot!at Prime Video, Netflix’s starryThe School for Good and Evil, and nowAnother Simple Favor, the sequel to his 2018 dark comedy thriller starringBlake LivelyandAnna Kendrick. However, one script from recent memory that ultimately went unmade is still on his mind —Dark Army. Announcedback in 2019, the film would’ve pulled from Universal’s roster of classic monsters and featured some of theBridesmaidsdirector’s original creations in a tribute to olderJames Whalemovies. Years of attempts to get the project off the ground didn’t bear fruit for numerous reasons, though, and now he’s speaking out about the film and what kept the ambitious project from marching forward.
Feig attendeda screening and Q&A forAnother Simple Favorhosted by Collider’sSteve Weintraub, where he was asked about the script he’d most want to make if he could get the financing. He took the chance to reiterate his long-held interest in makingDark Armyin some form. Back in 2022, he described the long fight to get the film made asa constant struggleto get the projected cost to a spot that the studio felt was reasonable, tellingChristina Radish, “I have to make a monster movie. I have to make my monster movie.” Despite the ideas he had for bringing it to life and the rewrites he underwent to satisfy the studio, reconciling the scope of the project with fears about what it would cost, in addition to trouble navigating the rights for the characters he wanted, proved too great a hurdle to overcome in the end. He explained to Weintraub:
“I was developing this movie at Universal for a while calledDark Army, which was my tribute to the old Universal monster movies that I loved. I thought it was really a fun character that I had, and it brought forward characters from some classic old movies that I couldn’t get the rights to. I wrote it first with all these really famous monsters in it, and they’re like, ‘You can’t get the rights to this, somebody’s making this movie already, we promised this to so-and-so.’ So, I kind of had to invent my own monsters with a couple that were original, but the studio just decided it was going to cost too much. I thought there was a way to do it less expensively, but sadly, that’s sitting in a drawer.”
‘Dark Army’ Was a Passion Project for Feig With Franchise Ambitions
At the time,Dark Armyseemed to be positioned well. In the wake of the Dark Universe’s colossal failure, Universal started to turn to more auteur-driven ideas for the classic monsters rather than the expanded MCU-esque franchise they envisioned.Leigh Whannell’s excellentInvisible Mancame out of that process, as did his less well-receivedWolf Man, and Feig’s passion for his project seemed likely to carry his film over the finish line as well. Moreover, he envisionedDark Armybecoming a series all its own, mimicking how Whale andTod Browning’s films branched out over time.
Alas, that project will likely never see the light of day, but given Feig’s versatility, he may one day get to make the monster movie of his dreams. For now, he hasAnother Simple Favoron the way, which reunites Kendrick and Livelyfor a killer wedding in Italy. After being sent behind bars in the original, Lively’s Emily Nelson is out and living her best life, even inviting Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) to be her maid of honor. Knowing about Emily’s murderous pastdoesn’t stop Stephanie from accepting the offerand reuniting with her frenemy, despite the potential grudge she may hold. She begins to suspect that it’s all an elaborate scheme for revenge, which only gets messier when a murder takes place at the venue.Henry Golding,Andrew Rannells,Bashir Salahuddin,Michele Morrone,Elizabeth Perkins,Alex Newell,Elena Sofia Ricci, andAllison Janneyare also set to star.
Another Simple Favorwill be available to watch on Prime Video on May 1. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on what comes next for Feig after the streaming-bound sequel.
Another Simple Favor
